Hobkirk's Hill, April 25th 1781; A Rebels and Patriots Scenario

 The scenario is set in the period after the battle of Guildford Courthouse and the rebel (or revolutionary?) commander Nathanael Greene has marched into the Carolinas towards the Crown supply base at Camden.  Greene camped at Hobkirk's Hill a little north of Camden.  Lord Rawdon, the commander of the Crown forces decided to attack rather than sit behind his defences, and gathering his small army embarked on a flank march through the wooded terrain.  He hoped to launch a surprise flank attack which would roll up the rebel line.

Rawdon's army was composed mainly of provincial units which have remained loyal to the king, stiffened with a single regular battalion (the 63rd), some light infantry and a section of Royal Artillery.  There is also a single unit of light dragoons (Coffin's).  Greene's force had four units of Continental infantry, two from Maryland and 2 from Virginia, plus a militia unit and two units of riflemen.  There was also a section of artillery and Washington's Light Dragoons.

Rawdon's force about to commence the attack

In our first run through the game the Crown forces suffered from a spate of low die rolls.  The rules require a score of 6 (in some cases 5) or more on two d6 to move, despite this low bar, the Crown advance was disjointed.  One unit would advance and then three or four would fail to move.  The photograph below shows the result.

The rather disjointed Crown advance

 

Sticking to his original plan, Rawdon pushed his skirmishers forward on the flanks (as quickly as his dice would let him).  On the Crown left, the skirmishers moved towards a wood occupied by a unit of rebel riflemen, intending to drive them off.  Things did not go as planned as the rebel marksmen out shot their Crown opponents and rather too quickly, the Crown skirmishers were at half strength.  A second unit of rebel skirmishers was harassing the advancing provincial units and the stuttering pace of the attack meant that the provisional units took significant casualties before they were able to engage the continental infantry.  Greene had been surprised by the Crown force appearing on his flank and was grateful that their slow advance gave him time to redeploy to meet it.  He ordered the Maryland units to swing to the left and sent Washington's Dragoons down from the ridge to threaten the flank of the Crown advance. 

The Maryland units wheel towards the Crown advance

The skirmishers deployed on the Crown right had been ordered to fire into the flank of the Maryland regiments and   'soften them up' for the main attack.  Seeing the approaching enemy cavalry, the skirmishers fired and hurried  backwards trying to evade.  They were not quick enough and were caught by the dragoons.  The melee was inevitably won by the cavalry, who followed the retreating skirmishers and drove them from the field.                                   

Washington's Dragoons make short work of the Crown skirmishers

Rawdon had sent a unit to support the skirmishers.  Their volley did inflict some casualties on the dragoons, who had reformed, facing the flank of the advancing Crown units.  The dragoons charged their aggressors and totally defeated them, routing them from the field.  Rawdon's attack was not going well.

And a provincial unit

The only ray of hope for the Crown forces was that  the dragoons were now reduced to half strength and they fell back behind the ridge, their job done.  Through all the mayhem, the 63rd Foot had been advancing on Hobkirk's Hill.  After an exchange of volleys with the 1st Maryland they charged, only to be roundly defeated in the melee.  As they fell back in disorder the 63rd were hit by volleys from both Maryland units and the artillery, their morale cracked and they also fled the field.

By now, the Virginia regiments from the rebel right flank had marched over to support the Maryland regiments and Greene felt confident enough to counter attack.  The extra firepower ground down the remaining provincial units one by one and soon over half the Crown army had fled.  This left Rawdon little choice but to retreat with the remains of his force and hope he had sufficient troops to defend Camden.

After this rather one-sided affair, we reset the scenario and went for lunch.  On our return we swapped sides and tried again.   On this second attempt the Crown forces fared much better (things tend to even out).  The advance was much more organised  and the skirmishers on the flanks more than held their own.  Washington's Dragoons again moved to the left, but fared less well than before.  The fire from the Crown skirmishers was much more effective and the dragoons twice failed to charge their tormentors.  Reduced to half strength, the dragoons pulled back, failed to rally and fled the field, leaving the way open for the Crown skirmishers to push forward. 

A more organised Crown advance

As before Greene pulled his right flank units across to counter the Crown advance, but this time they were needed to help the Maryland units hold the hill, rather than support an attack.

The Rebel right moves to reinforce the left

With the 63rd to the fore, the Crown forces began to move onto the hill. All along the line the leading Crown units would fire a volley, the supporting line would pass through and fire a volley and then the process was repeated.  The pressure on the rebel units was intense.

The Crown forces move onto Hobkirk's Hill

One by one the rebel units had to fall back and as they did so, the Crown forces advanced maintaining the pressure.  Inevitably one unit failed to rally and routed.

One of the Continental units routs

At close of play the result was obvious, a victory for the Crown forces.

The end of the game - the Crown forces continue to push the Rebels back

Steve set up the scenario using the article in issue 78 of Wargames , Soldiers and Strategy. and adapted it for our in house version of the Rebels and Patriots rules written by Michael Leck and Dan Mersey  and published by Osprey.  One point from the above narrative, rolling low dice when attempting to rally

units is not recommended; it the reason so many Crown units fled the field in the first game.  Nevertheless, on the day both armies gained a victory, the players enjoyed the game so the scenario must be rated a success.